Glad you Came
by GracelesslyFalling
Summary: Raindrops thudded against my windshield when moments earlier there had been silence. Rain. It was always raining here. Not that I minded the rain much, I just wasn't as used to it as I once was. As late as it was when I pulled up in front of the little red house there was still a porch light on. Someone was waiting up for me. Perhaps even two someones.
1. Chapter 1: Cold Pizza and Soccer Balls

Glad You Came

"You cast a spell on me. You hit me like the sky fell on me. And I decided you look well on me."

Chapter One

Cold Pizza and Soccer Balls

The sound of ripping tape reverberated around the now empty dorm room as I taped up the final box filled with the last random ends of my belongings. Taking one last look around the eleven by fourteen college dorm room I had lived the last three years of my life in I kicked the door shut behind me and headed towards the RD's office to drop off my key. It was hard to believe I would never attend another lecture on campus again. I had officially graduated, and a year early at that. Now it was time to begin a new chapter of my life: filling out job applications and waiting for responses to those already sent. My plan was to rent a small apartment in Portland while I waited but renting costs had skyrocketed recently, higher than my budget could afford, and I was left with only one option: return home to La Push.

La Push. The one place I had avoided for years, making excuses so I wouldn't have to return during holidays. Because I knew every part of home would remind me of my mother and the pain would simply be too much to bear. Especially without Becca there with me. A part of me wanted to back out on my decision and crash at a friend's place, but I had already called home. Dad was expecting me late tonight. Both Jake and him seemed excited at my announcement that I was coming back home for a little while.

I could tell the moment I had crossed into Forks, even though it was dark out. Raindrops thudded against my windshield when moments earlier there had been silence. Rain. It was always raining here. Not that I minded the rain much, I just wasn't as used to it as I once was. As late as it was when I pulled up in front of the little red house there was still a porch light on. Someone was waiting up for me. Perhaps even two someones. I couldn't really blame them, neither had seen me much over the three years and talking on the phone just wasn't the same.

Cutting the engine I sat where I was for a few minutes, taking deep steadying breaths. I could do this. I used that as my mantra as I finally emerged from my vehicle, pulling a small duffle from the passenger side that contained the necessities. Standing on my own front porch felt strange and as I was contemplating whether I should knock or just walk in the door opened for me and I got my first glimpse of my living room before I was enveloped in a scorching embrace.

"Welcome home Rach" a deep tenor voice reverberated in my ear. Jacob. His voice, only deeper. I suppose puberty would have hit him while I had been away. It's just that I had expected to see my unchanged _little_ brother. Not the man that stood before me now.

"Been eating your spinach then Popeye?" His smile was still the same, making him look young again, like my brother.

"He's been eating much more than spinach. We can't seem to keep enough food around." Jacob's laughter barked out as he stepped to the side so I could see dad approaching. It seemed he was done patiently waiting his turn to see me. "Rachel," he whispered my name with a small smile as I bent down to give him a hug. "We've missed you around here."

"It's good to see you too." It was more than good. I hadn't realized how much I missed my family until now. It swelled up inside me warm and bright as I stood back to take in Jake and my dad. For now, in this moment, I was happy to be home.

That fondness faded slightly once I was alone in the room Becca and I used to share. The twin bed seemed smaller than I remembered, decked out with a pale yellow bedspread that was faded from the sun that filtered onto it from the window it lay under. The room felt emptier without Becca. I had never stayed in the room without her snoring on the other side of it and now it felt as if something was missing. Until Jake started snoring from across the hall, lulling me into sleep. It was nice to get a break from the silence as I had grown used to having noise filter in from my dorm window as I fell asleep.

For the first time in three years I didn't wake up to an alarm clock screaming at me to get up or I'd be late for class. Not that I slept in much. My eyes opened of their own accord around eight and I forced myself to lay in bed for another half hour before I gave up on falling back to sleep. The house was silent until I padded my way towards the kitchen and found dad sitting in front of the tv that was turned so low that it was basically on mute.

"Morning dad," I called out as I opened the cupboards to try and find something to eat. Most of the boxes of cereal were empty but I managed to combine the ends of several into a bowl and make a sizeable serving.

"Have you already eaten?" I asked as I sat down beside him in the old recliner.

"Yeah, I had the last of the leftover pizza in the fridge." Sighing I shook my head, making a mental note to go grocery shopping later. Honestly there was no food in the house. I don't know how Dad and Jake have survived this long.

Dad caught me in the act of writing up a grocery list and he quickly pulled it away from me.

"It's your first day back Rach, why don't you go enjoy the sun. It's actually making an appearance today." Glancing outside to see the sun feebly shining I debated internally with myself. There were things that needed to get done: resume's to send, groceries to buy, clothes to clean. But it technically was summer vacation and I did deserve at least a little break after the past three years. One day wouldn't set me back too far.

After changing into jeans and a t-shirt I grabbed a blanket, a pair of sunglasses and a book from my bag before heading out the back door towards the beach. It was actually pretty crowded today. After a bit of walking I found a decently secluded spot of sand and plunked myself down on the blanket, ready to dive into the book I had brought whose subject matter had no relation whatsoever to anything dealing with business or computers or any other part of my major. With the warm sun on my back it was simply glorious. I was so relaxed that I found myself drifting off to sleep and finally succumbed to it, setting my book to the side.

I'm not sure how long I was out. The only reason I woke up was because some jerk who had been playing soccer with his friends kicked sand up on my face as he ran by to retrieve the ball. Sputtering I wiped at my face until the sand was out of my eyes, sitting up in the process. The sun had gone behind clouds now and it looked as if it might rain so I decided to pack up, now that my nap had been disturbed.

"Next time watch where you're kicking sand," I grumbled more to myself than the guy who had done the deed. Just when I had gathered up my things I turned only to find a soccer ball flying towards me. Dropping my things in favor of catching the ball and preventing it from hitting my face I felt my anger spark.

I didn't know if the guy approaching me was the same one who kicked the sand on me, but regardless he was going to feel my wrath.

"This may come as a surprise to you, but this isn't a private beach." I glared up at him. And I do mean up. He was obscenely tall even for a guy. "Some advice. Learn better ball control." Thrusting the ball into his chest forced him to move his hands to hold it, but other than that the guy remained frozen in his spot, staring at me in disbelief.

He only moved when I started collecting my things from where I had dropped them in the sand. To my surprise he offered his help. I didn't really want it, not that he cared what I wanted because when I told him I got it he continued to help anyways.

"I'm Paul," he spoke as he handed me my blanket which he had attempted to fold. Without saying a word I shook out the blob of material and refolded it neatly while he watched. Draping it over my arm I finally glanced back up to find him staring at me expectantly.

"Rachel." I answered gruffly before walking off back down the beach towards home. Rain drops had started to fall, big and fat, and made me want to get inside as soon as possible. Once it started raining here it never really let up. I didn't want to be wet and cold. That and I didn't want to stay and have to converse with Paul, the jerk who almost broke my nose with a soccer ball.

_**A/N **_

_**And theres your taste of the Rachel/Paul story. **_

_**Rach**_

_**xoxo**_


	2. Chapter 2: Family dinner bonding time

Glad you Came

Chapter 2

Family dinner bonding time

It was pouring by the time I reached the garage behind my house. My flip flops were covered in mud and my hair was dripping. Jake was working on some old rusted car, but he glanced up as I sat down on a stool in the corner.

"Good beach day?" He commented, flinging an old towel at me before continuing with his work.

"I've had better," I mumbled as I wiped the water from my body with the towel before wringing out my hair with it.

Once I was no longer dripping I went to looking around the garage that seemed to be my little brothers choice hang out. There were pieces of car parts splayed all over the carpenter bench and tools strewn across the ground around where Jacob was currently working. There were a couple cars parked in here and one out in the driveway. But none of them happened to be the truck that I had fond childhood memories riding in with my hands and head sticking out the window.

"Jake, what happened to dad's old red truck?" When I was met with silence I turned to him only to find a look of slight pain cross his features.

"He sold it. A couple years ago," he murmured softly. "To Bella Swan. I'm sorry Bella Cullen."

I could have smacked myself in the forehead after hearing his answer. Bella: the girl my brother had fallen in love with and who had married someone else. Of course this had all happened before I came back home or I would have had a few choice words for the girl who broke my baby brothers heart.

"Guess I missed saying my goodbyes to it then huh?" I attempted to lighten the mood and move my brothers thoughts to an easier subject.

"You've missed a lot of things." His tone had grown bitter, almost resentful and I flinched at its harshness. "Birthdays, awards, me growing up," when he looked at me his eyes showed both anger and a hint of hurt.

"Now Jake that's not fair. I had school, responsibilities." Attempting to throw my excuses between us to protect me from the look Jacob was shooting me did no good. He was beyond accepting my excuses.

"Yes, you had school, Rebecca had her husband and you both moved away to escape the burden of family after mom died." Wincing in emotional pain at the mention of mom it took all my strength not to break into tears of grief and frustration.

"I couldn't stay here Jake, everything reminded me of her." He was shaking his head, unsatisfied with my explanation.

"You were selfish. Mom's death affected me same as you and Becca. But I was left stranded here with all of the memories and nowhere to run to and I was the one helping dad deal with his grief, helping him deal with his new life without the use of his legs."

Jacob's words stung. Of course he was right, I had been incredibly selfish. Jacob was only a kid when I left for the university. And I stranded him in La Push to take care of dad while I escaped from all the memories. He had reason to be angry, to hate me. Right now I made myself sick. Collapsing onto an old dusty car seat that had been removed from one of the many old cars inside the garage I let my hands drag across my face.

"You didn't have to deal with everyone telling you how much you resembled her: her hair, her eyes, her smile. There was a time I couldn't even look at myself in a mirror because I could see her staring back at me in my own reflection." I whispered the last part to my feet covered in sand and mud. "I'm sorry Jakey. I'm sorry I abandoned you. I was young and stupid and scared. I'm just. Sorry."

Looking up I found him staring at me with an undistinguishable look in his eye before he sent me a small lopsided grin. "You still like pepperoni and sausage on your pizza?" He asked as he picked up the wireless extension kept out here.

"My treat," I smiled back. And just like that the subject was closed. I'm not sure that it was forever closed, but the hostility behind it would no longer be there. Jacob had forgiven me, as was his nature. Best little brother ever.

We spent the evening in the garage eating pizza, fixing cars, and waiting out the rain. It had been a while since I had worked on one and my mechanical skills were rusty but it was fun. Jacob was patient with me as I did things at a slower pace due to my lack of practice. When we finally stumbled into the house we were covered in grease and oil and laughing fighting to be the first to get to the sole bathroom in the house. Despite Jacob's newfound speed I won but only because I had a slight head start and I might have played a little dirty.

After asking repeatedly and then doing a bit of begging I got Jake to agree to spend the night in Becca's bed so it wouldn't seem so forlorn in there. It was highly comical seeing him under the flowery bedspread with his feet sticking out the bottom. He really had grown since I saw him last. That night I was lulled to sleep by my baby brother's snoring; I had never thought I would miss it.

I woke around three in the morning to silence and when I turned over it was to find Becca's bed empty. Wiping the sleep from my eyes I padded barefoot to the kitchen to fill a glass with water. I had expected to see Jacob up and watching TV but it was dark and quiet in the living room. He wasn't sleeping back in his room either and I was starting to get worried. For two hours my worry grew into a tangled knot until Jake walked through the front door nonchalantly as if it were natural for him to be out until five am.

"Where in the name of Sam Hell have you been?" I tried to keep my voice to a harsh whisper because as angry as I was at Jacob worrying me, I didn't want him to get busted by dad.

"Rachel, you're not supposed to be up." His sense of calm faltered slightly when he realized he had been caught.

"And you're supposed to be snoring away in Becca's bed. So I repeat where have you been?" There seemed to be a slight inner debate going on in Jacob's head before he squared his shoulders and looked me dead in the eyes and I knew right then whatever he said would be a lie.

"I went for a walk," and not even a good lie at that. He must have felt that answer was good enough though because he started making his way back down the hall with me close on his heels.

"Jake," I called after him when we reached his room and I leaned against the door frame. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Get some sleep Rach, please." There was no way I'd be able to sleep without an answer. But Jacob was as stubborn as I was so he wasn't about to budge. The look of pure exhaustion in his eyes was what led me to letting the subject slide for the night. He needed sleep and whatever kept him from sleeping before could wait.

Tossing and turning the rest of the night and trying not to think of all the wrong reasons why Jake was out at two in the morning it was no surprise my eyes were puffy and my hair a mess when I awoke from a fitful little bit of sleep at eight. Jake was eating at the table and avoided my gaze when I entered the room a half hour later. Dad and him had been talking in hushed tones until he noticed my presence.

"Morning honey," dad was the first and only one to acknowledge my presence. I mumbled a response before grabbing a granola bar and leaving the two to their obviously private conversation.

It was raining again today so I decided to spend the day checking for job opportunities and making the necessary calls. The first few companies I got through to hadn't had time to read over my resume yet and promised to contact me as soon as they had gotten a chance to do so. Eventually my hunger drew me from my room and back to the kitchen. Dad was there making a sandwich but Jake was nowhere to be found. I was beginning to sense a pattern.

Trying to ignore my big sister protective side I grabbed the paper from the kitchen table and immediately flipped to the wanted section. I needed some way of making money, even if it was only temporary. Nothing too appealing jumped out at me at first though.

"Are you alright Rachel?" Dad snapped me out of my job search. I hadn't noticed I was tugging at a piece of my hair as my eyes flew across the printed page.

"I want a job, need a job. Just until offers come back from the companies I've applied to." Sighing I wrestled with the pages trying to fold them back into order but ended up leaving them a crinkled mess.

"I think I may be able to help. Follow me."

The job my dad had in mind was working at Forks Library. They were finally switching over to an electronic catalog system after all these years. Trying to switch over, that was. The older women working there weren't very technologically savvy. That was where I came in, computer engineering being my major and whatnot. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it paid decently enough and kept me busy. Busy was good; being away from the house was nice. It kept too many memories from flooding back.

I tried my hardest to avoid a reunion with the members of the reservation community, not wanting any conversations to lead towards my mother or how much I reminded them of her. Over the years I swear my likeness to her just grew stronger and stronger. I'd been pretty successful at my avoidance especially by doing the grocery shopping in Forks.

Locking up Saturday afternoon I ran by the supermarket to pick up a few extra things for the night's meal. There was some big game on and I was planning to surprise dad and Jake with Chili. I had most of the ingredients already from my last grocery shopping trip, however Jake eats a lot more than any normal person so I was planning on making quite a bit more than the original recipe. Laden down with a paper bag in each arm I made my way towards the house, attempting to open the door with my elbow when I reached the front porch. Simply put, it was hard to do seeing as I was supposed to turn the knob and my elbow kept slipping.

Giving it another go I felt the knob turn underneath me, and for a second thought I had actually succeeded in my endeavor before turning to see Jake. Before I could take a step he had removed the bags from my arms, carrying them himself to the kitchen. He was still trying to pretend things were normal, like I hadn't caught him sneaking in a week ago. And I was trying to forget it, trying to accept that he was never going to tell me, but it was harder to do than I thought. Especially when a small part of me knew that dad already knew all this as well as the reason behind it. I didn't like feeling left out. Then again, I had left Jake out of my life for so long, it's natural for him to retaliate and do the same to me.

"It's going to take more than carrying the groceries to get me to trust you again, little brother," I half joked with him, getting pans out for the night's meal.

"Then what will it take?" He sighed stepping up beside me. Handing him an onion and a knife I went to get the meat from the fridge.

"The truth," this time my reply received a sigh and eye roll. No matter how grown up he looked physically, he still had most of the annoying tendencies of an adolescent.

Dad came out to the kitchen when I had already started browning the meat, sniffing the air appreciatively and giving me the thumbs up. "Jacob, could you bring in some chairs from the deck and garage while your sister finishes up in here?" Jake nodded, heading for the back door to the garage units leaving me a little more than confused.

"Why do we need more seating dad?" Dad's famous sly grin answered me as he wheeled his way back towards the living room.

A half hour later I had my answer as the house was filled to the brim with people. Most of who were sitting around the old television set, anxiously awaiting the game. I was joined in the kitchen by Emily Young, Sam Uley's girlfriend, who had brought food of her own as well. It boggled me really because when I had left, Leah Clearwater and Sam were an item and seemed about ready to take their vows. But it would be too awkward to question Emily about it so I let it go to the back of my mind.

Hearing one of the many boys in the room say something about chips, I grabbed one of the extra bags that Emily had brought and went to refill the bowl. More people had come since I had returned to the kitchen last, greetings had been heard as the others entered. Thinking it might be better to bring more than less as I turned to grab a second bag of chips. As I was turning back towards the living room I found myself almost bumping into someone who was on their way to the kitchen, probably to get the chips.

"You," my eyes squinted in a glare as I took in exactly who had almost bowled me over.

"Rachel," the guy from the beach smiled down at me as if I wasn't giving him a death glare; _Paul_.

* * *

_**A/N: Hey everyone. For those of you who were brought here from my other story: Live like you are dying, I want to applogize for how long overdue this is. I'm not even sure what all prevented me from writing. Part of it was a lack of inspiration and then school started back up. I want to let you know for now I plan on trying to update both this story as well as start up Peyton's story as well. I could not choose between the two. This one is only out first because I had half of it done already. Hope you enjoy it and as always I love to hear from all of you.**_

_**Rach**_

_**xoxo**_


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